Viktor Yushchenko is currently wrapping up a three-day visit to the United States, his first since he led Ukraine’s Orange Revolution last winter. On Monday Yushchenko met with President Bush at the White House. Yesterday he received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston, where the award committee cited his commitment to democracy despite the efforts of his Russian-backed political opponents and a nearly fatal dioxin poisoning. Today he addresses a joint session of Congress.

Yushchenko is a hero to those around the world who support democracy. Still, there is much work to be done in Ukraine. Portions of the country favor secession, more than half of economic activity takes place on the black market, and the country’s nuclear-capable missiles are still a major problem.

But although President Bush publicly praises Yushchenko’s government as a “powerful example of democracy for people around the world,” he has fallen short when it comes to supporting Ukraine. His administration has cut 46 percent of funding for democracy programs in the former U.S.S.R. over the last four years. And early in his first term, Bush proposed slashing funding for Nunn-Lugar, the program designed to secure nuclear weapons in former Soviet territories.

President Bush recently proposed $60 million in funding to help cement democracy in Ukraine. Right-wing radicals in the House of Representatives , however, are trying to cut that amount to $33.7 million. Will the president put his money where his mouth is and fight for this funding for Ukraine? Only time will tell, but if recent history is any indication, Ukrainians probably shouldn’t bet on it.

One reason American Airlines may have given to Tom DeLay’s (R-TX) legal defense fund: DeLay opposed and fought against post-9/11 legislation which would have mandated security training for flight attendants, an expensive measure the airlines opposed. From Campaign Money Watch:

The initial version of the legislation, as passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, included language mandating flight attendants to obtain security training in the post-9/11 environment. The measure was supported by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) and it directed the federal officials to establish minimum guidelines for security training that all flight attendants would be required to complete.

But, according to the AFA, as the compromise was hammered out between the House and the Senate, a provision that weakened the security training — by making it voluntary, not mandatory — was “ordered to be inserted” by DeLay.

Airlines had opposed the requirement, complaining about its cost, and they apparently found an ally in the Majority Leader. “Found” may be the wrong word. The airline industry has contributed $159,000 since 1997 to Tom DeLay’s congressional candidate committee.

In a post-9/11 world, flight attendants said at the time that for some of them, the only option is to pay for the security training out of their own pockets.